In the cozy living room corner of the main hall, the wide brick heated kang sofa was warmed from underneath by pipes connected directly to the kitchen hearth stove, keeping the thick cotton mattress and red velvet cushions at a toasty eighty degrees.
Wrapped in a soft lamb’s-wool blanket after eating two full bowls of hand-pulled beef noodles, Empress Luo Qingxue sat right in the center of the heated kang.
She didn’t have a single inch of empty space around her—because all five children had immediately piled onto her lap, shoulders, and sides like a litter of warm puppies!
Twelve-year-old Gu Nian sat snuggled tightly against her left side with his head resting on her shoulder. Thirteen-year-old Ye Xiao sat neatly on her right side holding a crystal reading lamp so the light wouldn’t strain her eyes. Ten-year-old Su Nuannuan and nine-year-old Jiang Tuntun sat tucked under either side of her blanket holding warm mugs of honey-milk, and chubby three-year-old toddler Little Fifth (Ao Xing)
lay sprawled right across her lap on his tummy, kicking his little socked feet in the air.
In front of them on the low mahogany tea table sat the eight thick, gold-bound leather books of [Dad’s Illustrated Family Growth Albums] that Gu Changsheng had just brought over.
